Spoke, June 26, 1989

The next issue of Spoke
will be pubiished July 10

Union matters A*
0$AP Changes.
Convocation «AAAl

Tibbits announces changes for Conestoga

Photo by Zora Jokic/Spoke

Doon^s faculty and staff applaud John Tibbits.

Highlights covered'at lh€ forum:

O a n«w road running through the Doon campus, to be called

on

in August 1989'.

□ a ue>^ administratioit buitding and an I8,000<square>foot

D

□

provai

□ plans to form a transportation link from Cambridge to
Doon campus

□ a report from die Lindiey Arhour and Ceddie consulting::
firm (22 recommendadomi on how to improve the profile
and image of Conestoga College) is now a% aitable

By Zora Jokic

Conestoga’s faculty and staff got
a chance to ask questions and air
some concerns about the college
June 13 at a Meet the President
forum at Doon campus.

John Tibbits, college president,
said the college will consider es-
tablishing more frequent contact
with the college’s faculty and staff,
since college-wide open forums
occur only once a year.

“I am really pleased to see so
many people (here),” he told
about 175 audience members.

Tibbits spoke at some length on
the college’s financial condition
and called it a ‘ ‘difficult year as far
as cutting budgets.” However, he
said, cutbacks and strategies taken
to turn the budget around are
paying off, and he assured the
audience that the financial condi-
tion will improve.

‘‘I think it would be quite fair to
say that the (budget) situation is
better,” he said.

Tibbits also touched on plans to
consolidate the Cambridge
campus to the Doon campus in
order to ‘‘operate in a more effi-
cient fashion,” and plans to build
a new road through the Doon cam-
pus, something which took
‘‘hundreds of hours of negotia-
tions.”

There were groans from the

audience when Tibbits said work
on the new road, to be called Con-
estoga College Boulevard, would
begin some time in August, just
before students begin their fall
semester and traffic becomes
heavier.

During the question period that
followed his speech, Tibbits said
some plans are being formed to
provide student transportation be-
tween Cambridge and Doon but
‘‘it’s a fairly complex issue as far
as jurisdiction.”

Other questions by audience
members included concerns about
the new payroll tax for OHIP
premiums, which Tibbits said will
add $300,000 a year to costs. He
also spoke of the possibility of a
recruitment program which would
have college students going to dif-
ferent high schools to promote the
program they aje enrolled in.

In answer to a question about the
possibility of building a student
residence on or near the Doon
campus, Tibbits said it was being
studied, but ‘‘I don’t feel we can
afford it right now.”

Other plans discussed by Tibbits
included an 18,000-square-foot
addition at the Doon campus and a
new administration building
which would eliminate the port-
able classrooms.

See Tibbits pg.2

Photo by Zora Jokic/Spoke

John Tibbits

More stories pg. 2

Finances improving: Tibbits

By Eric SchmiedI

- Conestoga College has turned
around financially and should be
on a sounder financial footing in
the future, college president John
Tibbits told about 175 faculty at-
tending an open forum June 13 at
the Doon campus.

In an interview, Tibbits said that
when he became president in Sep-
tember 1987, he thought the col-
lege — which had a $2 million
operating fund balance — was in
good financial shape.

‘‘I thought, that’s good . . . that
gives us a lot of leeway,” Tibbits
said.

However, ‘‘I didn’t realize the

gas tank was down to the last
litre,” he added.

Tibbits explained that the operat-
ing fund had to bear the strain of
rising costs that weren’t being
taken care of by funding increases.
For three years in a row the
college’s funding increased by less
than three per cent, while costs
went up about six per cent, Tibbits
said.

Under those conditions, the col-
lege was ‘‘just bleeding to death,
year after year after year, ” he said.

There was nothing to be done to
change the situation quickly be-
cause of the funding mechanism
the college functions by, according
to Tibbits. It takes at least two

years for the college to see returns
(in the form of government grants)
on increased enrolment, Tibbits
added.

‘‘Last year we grew by 3.1 -per-
cent — next year we anticipate
10-per-cent growth,’ ’ Tibbits said.

As a result of the increased
growth of the college, funding will
increase by 5.84-per-cent in 1990-
91, according to Tibbits.

Major factors in the college’s
economic turnaround include in-
creased retention rates, recruit-
ment initiatives and ‘‘the willing-
ness of the employees to adapt and
deal with the cuts that we’ve
made,” Tibbits said.

Conestoga College will focus more on
Waterloo, Guelph and Doon campuses

By Scott McNichol

A new administration building
and an 18,000-square-foot expan-
sion at Doon campus are just two
ideas being looked at in a plan to
expand Conestoga College, said
John Tibbits, college president.

‘‘We are hoping to be able to
build an extension at Doon cam-
pus,” he said, adding that the
provincial government has yet to
^^pprove the plan.

((^ He said that an expansion could
allow for the consolidation of
Cambridge campus with Doon’s
and improve college life for stu-
dents, faculty and administration.

In an open forum held June 13,
Tibbits told Doon campus faculty
and staff that consolidation would

save money, saying that the col-
lege has a higher number of sup-
port personnel than the college
system’s average, possibly be-
cause the staff is so spread out.

‘‘Costs are higher with the col-
lege being so spread out,” he said
in a subsequent interview, adding,
‘ ‘Students in Cambridge must find
it hard to think they are part of a
college when they t^e classes in a
six-room building.”

By bringing students from the
1305 Bishop St. campus in
Cambridge to Doon, relations and
flow of information would be more
immediate, he said.

Tibbits said he is aware that this
would call for some sort of transit
system from Cambridge to the
Doon campus and said it will be

looked into.

The idea of consolidation, said
Tibbits, is to bring any pro^ams to
one of the college’s main cam-
puses — Waterloo, Doon and
Guelph — to cut down on unneces-
sary costs. However, programs
that are working well at their
present location, like the nursing
program in Stratford, will stay.

He said the nursing program
works well in co-operation with
the hospital there and ‘‘you don’t
want to change something that’s
working.”

However, he said, a detailed plan
will not be ready until March 1990.

See Doon pg. 2

Rights document prepared

By Michael-Allan Marion

A comprehensive document
outlining the rights and respon-
sibilities of students and faculty
is being prepared by the college.

Speaking during a Meet the
President forum June 13, David
Gross, vice-president
marketing and community rela
tions, said the college has writ-
ten a rough draft, entitled Being
Prepared, which covers every-
thing from cheating to the car-
rying of firearms on campus.

The draft is divided into three
parts — a statement of prin-
ciples and then a section each
for rights and responsibilities.

Gross said the rough dralt had
been sent to the college’s
lawyers to have its legal lan-
guage checked and it would
then be reviewed by the
academic management com-
mittee. Student government
leaders and departmental co-or-
dinators would be consulted
during the fall term and a final
document could be approved by
Jan. 1.

Bill Clemenson, director of
student services and author of
the draft, said in an interview
that although most of the work
on the document had been done
during the past six months, he
had actually been working on it
for the last two years.

‘ ‘Two years ago I was asked to
write a statement on the
project,” Clemenson said.

Bill Clemenson

‘‘When I returned from a year’s
sabbatical in 1988, it was given :
to me again to do.”

He said the administration had
identified the need to have some
written statement because cur- 1
rently there are no written rules
on how to handle some specific |
situations.

‘‘Right now we are always I
responding after the fact,” he I
said. ‘‘Problems are usually!
resolved quickly because of the!
way the college operates, in get- 1
ting the right people to deal with I
the task professionally, but we I
should have some standard to|
use as a reference point.”

See College pg. 2

2

Spoke, Conestoga College, Monday, June 26, 1989

New road will make college attractive, says president

By Zora Jokic

Plans for a new road running
through the Doon campus, to be
named Conestoga College
Boulevard, are a definite go, ac-
cording to John Tibbits, college
president.

After “hundreds of hours of
negotiations,” Conestoga and the
City of Kitchener have finally
reached an agreement both are
happy with, said Tibbits.

He said when the city first ap-
proached the college with plans
for a new road “they put this for-
ward basically not as a point of
negotiation but as a point that this
is what is going to happen.

“Our first reaction was, we’d
better take a good look at this . . .
we don ’ t know what this means,’ ’
said Tibbits.

The college had a site study
done to determine what would
occur at the campus over the next
20 years, he said, and over a
period of time college officials
thought, “This might be all
right.’”

The college discovered that
despite impressions that the city
was in control, “we found out
very quickly that they didn’t have
the power to expropriate . . . (and)
that put (the college) in a much
stronger negotiating position.”

Conestoga’s negotiating team,
of which Tibbits is a member,
also realized the advantages of
having the new boulevard as an
entrance. It will be lined with
trees and will be “aesthetically
attractive,” according to Tibbits.

“We’re not trying to say we’re
making it look like an ivy-league

college, but it doesn’t hurt to have
an entrance that looks . . . well,
spectacular,” he said.

The city also agreed to give,
rather than sell, an extra four
acres of land to the college.

“In the year 2000 it could be
very important, ’’said Tibbits,
‘ ‘ (We’ 11 be) dealing with ecologi-
cal and environmental organiza-
tions (so) we would like to have a
significant part of our organiza-
tion treed.”

The new boulevard will run off
Homer Watson Boulevard,
around the Kenneth E. Hunter
Recreation Centre, past the Det-
weiler Centre and on to Doon
Valley Drive. Pinnacle Road will
eventually be closed completely
and Homer Watson will be
widened to accommodate the
traffic flow between Cambridge
and Kitchener.

The project will be paid for by
the city, which plans to begin
construction in August, said Tib-
bits.

’ ’They’re saying August . . . but
it wouldn’t surprise me in the
least if we were sitting here in
October and saying, ‘When is this
starting?”’ saidTibbits.

As soon as the project is com-
pleted, said Tibbits, the provin-
cial government plans to build a
filtering lane from Highway 401
to Homer Watson, which will
thin out the traffic around the col-
lege.

The name of the boulevard was
decided by both negotiating
teams, but the idea came from
Tibbits. After the city suggested
naming it after a prominent per-
son, Tibbits suggested Conestoga
College Boulevard, “since the

major player in this area is (the
college),” he said.

“Naming it after somebody —
you know damn well that there
are going to be another 100
people upset” because it wasn’t
named after somebody else, he
said.

‘ ‘Conestoga College Boulevard
is ideal,” and will not only pro-
vide free advertising for the col-
lege, but will enhance its image.

Tibbits said he looks forward to
the launching of the project.

“The sooner they start to build
it, the sooner the trees start to
grow,” he said.

“I think we have negotiated
something that we now can more
than live with,” he said. “Now I
can honestly talk about it with
some pride. We’re excited about
this.”

Image report completed

By Michael-Allan Marion

The consulting firm hired by
Conestoga College to improve
its image has finished its report
and the college was to make it
available to the public by June
23.

Tina Tschanz, marketing as-
sistant, said 100 copies had been
printed and were to be dis-
tributed to “internal people”
first — vice- presidents, deans,
chairmen, directors, managers
and program co- ordinators —
and more would be printed if
needed. Copies would be avail-
able to the public afterward.

Speaking at the Meet the
President forum June 13, David
Gross, vice- president of
marketing and community rela-

College from pg. 1 —

Clemenson said he researched
similar documents at other col-
leges and universities and con-
ducted a literature review before
writing the rough draft. He said he
decided to write the draft first, as a
framework for discussion, before
consulting student leaders and col-
lege administration.

Clemenson said it “didn’t seem
-to make any sense” to involve
others at the beginning. “We’re
not starting with a blank slate,
here. This kind of document al-
ready has been done many times
before and they all look very
similar.”

Clemenson said he would be
ready for consultations with the
council of presidents and
departmental co-ordinators in Sep-
tember.

tions, said the report, done by
Lindley, Arbour and Geddie,
contains 22 recommendations,
including one that the college
president, John Tibbits, have a
higher profile.

Tibbits, speaking at the same
forum, said he didn’t know how
his profile could be raised any
further because he had been to
more events in the past 20
months than the last three presi-
dents combined.

Gross said the firm consulted
50 people in the college before
writing its report. When a busi-
ness teacher expressed concern
that so few people had been
talked to. Gross said the firm
had tried to be as representative
as possible in its choice.

Tibbits from pg. 1

David Gross, vice-president of
marketing and community rela-
tions, said a copy of a consulting
firm ’ s report on 22 recommenda-
tions to improve the image of the
college was available to anyone
who wished to see it.

Tibbits said he hopes to see
“fewer and fewer decisions
(about the college) being made in
the president’s office, and more
by faculty and staff.” He praised
college employees, saying they
were a good group of people
whose co-operation help^ turn
the college’s financial situation
around.

“I think we should feel posi-
tive,” he said, “I really do.”

Attention Students!

If you're looking for ^ summer job,
the Canada Employment centre for
Students has a wide variety of oc-
cupations to choose front

The centre, at 207 King St. W., "
Kitchener, is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. weekdays to serve you. Come
down in person or phone744-8151.

College veteran retires

Doon from pg. 1

“We’ve done a macro (large)
study of the possible changes.
Now we will be looking at the
details,” Tibbits said, adding that
any changes made at the college
will benefit first the students and
faculty, then administration.

Other changes being looked at
are moving the book store and
printshop to the main building,
eliminating all portables, construc-
tion of a new administration build-
ing and refurbishing of the old
woodworking facilities.

Tibbits said that the portables
will definitely be gone in the near
future. He said that he is not happy
seeing students and faculty having
to run all the way out to the port-
ables for supplies.

“When I came to the college I
was very disappointed to see port-
ables, especially at the entrance,”
said Tibbits.

However, he pointed out that the
portables are necessary until room
can be made elsewhere for the
people who are in them. He said
this can be done if the college
builds a new administration build-
ing and fixes up certain areas —
such as the old woodworking
rooms — for re-use.

The whole idea is to reduce the
college’s expenses and to make it
more like a college should be, he
said.

By Julie Lawrence

After 20 years of service to
Conestoga college Ray
Hutcheson, supervisor of
material services, is retiring.

“I started working in the
college’s stationery store, then
went to work in the mailing ser-
vice and then to the print shop
before I became supervisor of
all the services,’’ said
Hutcheson.

At 58, Hutcheson said he feels
it’s time to retire. -

“I feel retiring will give me a
better chance to enjoy life while
I still have my health.”

Hutcheson said once his wife,
Esther, retires from Uniroyal
Goodrich in the next couple of
years, they will do some travell-
ing.

“We want to see all of
Canada,” he said. “We have a
beautiful country — why not
take advantage of its scenery?”

Hutcheson also plans a trip to
Australia and New Zealand.

“Retiring will give us the
freedom to travel with no set
schedules,” he said. He doesn’t
want to worry about being back

to work on the Monday follow-
ing their holidays or cutting a
vacation short when they are en-
joying themselves to return to
work.

While he waits for his wife to
retire, Hutcheson plans on
taking a few courses of interest
and he wants to build a retire-
ment home in Sauble Beach.

“We’ve had a cottage in
Sauble for about 1 2 years, ’ ’ said
Hutcheson. ‘ ‘We like the people
and the surroundings and, of
course, the beach.’’

He expects the first year of
retirement will be spent arrang-
ing to have the house built.

Looking forward to his offical
retirement and the change in his
lifestyle, Hutcheson said,

“There are always some regrets
when you leave a place of
employment after so many
y^s because you are leaving a
big part of your life behind
you.”

Hutcheson will be offically
retired from the college on Sept.
18 but planned to take some
holiday time prior to that, start-
ing June 14.

Flash

If you have a news
thing else that you think should
be in Sppke; call the Spoke ho t-

hne: v,. ^

9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.mi. Weekdays

^ ^ ^ ^ -- -- ^

. y V

Spoke, Conestoga College, Monday, June 26, 1989

3

Bargaining heats up: issues examined

By Michael-Allan Marion

The third round of negotiations between
the support workers and the colleges got
under way June 19, 20 and 21 in what both
sides described as intense bargaining.

“We’re deep inside all the issues now,’’
Andre Bekerman, senior negotiator for the
Ontario Public Service Employees Union,
said just prior to the latest round. “This is
the most intense stage and each issue has its
own fundamental problem.’’

With the preliminary rounds finished, the
Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology
and the union began discussing the main
issues of salaries, job security and contract-
ing out, over which Bekerman said the two
sides are still far apart.

“The two sides have begun the hard job
of narrowing the gulf,’ ’ said Charles Pascal,
chairman of the Council of Regents (the
colleges’ bargaining agent).

The unions have made salary increases
their top priority, asking for a 13 -per-cent

raise over a one-year contract. So far the
colleges have not put a firm salary offer on
the table.

The unions also put increased pressure in
this round on the contracting out issue.
Andrew Todd, spokesman for the support
workers, said the union is afraid the col-
leges, cash-squeezed by government under-
funding, will find contracting out an attrac-
tive way to cut costs.

“It has been an issue in the past several
contract negotiations, but this time there is

the fear that the colleges will resort to con-
tracting out a lot more because of the last
federal budget, where the government
backed away from funding colleges and
universities, and from current provincial
underfunding,’’ Todd said.

Asked whether a settlement could still be
reached before Aug. 3 1 , when the current
contract expires, Bekerman said, “I
couldn’t call it for you. All I can say is we’ll
either get a contract by Aug. 31, or an
understanding that there’s none to be had.’ ’

OPSEU puts pressure on to curb outside help

By Michael-Allan Marion

The community colleges’ practice of con-
tracting out services and labor has been a
sore point for years with the support
workers at collective bargaining time, but
this year the union intends to give the issue
a higher priority.

Andrew Todd, spokesman for the Ontario
Public Service Employees Union, said the
support workers are putting more pressure
this year on the Colleges of Applied Arts
and Technology (CAAT) to end the practice
because the union fears tight college
budgets will make it an even more attractive
option.

“In the past, the colleges have put food
services, security and cleaning out to
tender,’’ Todd said. “But we’re afraid
they’ll start doing it in other areas, like
computer and machinery maintenance, just

because they need to cut costs.’’

Todd said the union has always opposed
the use of contracting companies because it
believes the practice isn’t really cost- effi-
cient. He said the only savings are cheaper
wages and, since the colleges are financed
by government, the public will only have to
pay the cost in other areas.

“It’s all taxpayers’ money,’’ he said.
‘ ‘The government — and the colleges really
are the government — can avoid paying
workers fair wages to clean floors and staff
cafeterias, but it will only pay later in social
problems, unemployment, income support
and a host of other costs.’’

While Conestoga College has contracted
out its food services, cleaning and security
costs since. the early 1980s, John Tibbits,
college president since 1987 and co-chair-
man of the CAAT bargaining team, said
there are other savings than labor costs. He

said professional cafeteria and security
companies have more buying power and
larger economies of scale than the colleges.

“Companies like Beaver Foods can run
our (Conestoga College’s) cafeteria in a
more cost-effective way because, being a
large professional food service chain, they
can buy food in bulk at a mlich cheaper
price titan we ever could,’’ Tibbits said.
“So there’s more to be saved than labor
costs.’’

Tibbits said there are other problems in
security and maintenance, regardless of
wage rates, that colleges want to avoid
when they decide to hire a professional
company.

“Even if the wages were higher in the
cleaning area, it is the type of work that has
a high turnover rate due to poor work hours
and limited appeal,’ ’ he said. ‘ ‘It’s better to
pay a company to ensure these problems

don’t affect the college.’’

Todd said the government has a moral
obligation to pay its employees fairly rather
than allow the incomes of vulnerable people
to be dictated by the market.

‘ ‘When the colleges decide to contract out
they always start with the most vulnerable,
the kinds of jobs that companies can find
people to do for close to minimum wage,’ ’
he said, adding that professional companies
always prefer to hire people such as im-
migrant women and conspicuous
minorities.

Tibbits said the colleges had an obligation
to provide excellence in education and good
service to students.

‘ ‘Ultimately we have to ask ourselves who
we are here for,” he said. “We’re here for
the students and we owe it to them to give
the highest possible service for the best
price.”

Photo by Eric Schmiedl/Spoke

Judge Lorna Van Mossell (left) pauses as a family takes the oath of citizenship.

Citizens sworn in at Waterloo

By Eric SchmiedI

Canada added 32 names to its
citizenship roster as people from
15 countries were sworn in as
Canadians June 16 in a citizenship
court ceremony held at Conestoga
College’s Waterloo campus.

Holding the ceremony at the
campus was arranged through the
college’s Project Mainstream, said
Carol Trotter, project co- or-
kdinator.

According to a press release.
Project Mainstream is a 35-week
course which helps people coming
to the Kitchener-Waterloo area
from foreign countries combat
poor language skills.

Trotter said students in the
Project Mainstream program at-

tended the swearing-in ceremony
to give them an idea of what
citizenship entails, and what it will
be like for them when they become
citizens after spending three years
in Canada.

“The reason for doing the
citizenship court was to culiminate
our section on citizenship,” Trot-
ter added.

Judge Loma Van Mossell, who
presided over the court, told the 32
people prior to the swearing-in
ceremony that “as a citizen, you
bind yourself to your fellow
Canadians.”

‘ ‘Together, we can make Canada
a better place” by sharing skills
and talents. Van Mossell said.

After the ceremony. Van Mossell
urged the new citizens (originally

from Cyprus, Vietnam and other
countries) to strive “to uphold the
quality of life, for yourselves, tuid
for future Canadians.”

People attending the ceremony
included Kitchener Mayor Dorn
Cardillo, MP John Reimer and
Waterloo Mayor Brian Turnbull.

Reimer, referring to the oath of
citizenship, told the new citizens,
“You’ve said some important
things in that short statement.”

“We are all citizens together,”
Reimer added.

Cardillo told the gathering, “We
hope you will be able to contribute
to our way of life. No doubt you’ll
put them (your skills) to good use’ ’

Turnbull ended his speech by
welcoming the new citizens to
Canada and congratulating them.

International award

accepted by teacher

By Zora Jokic

A Conestoga College teacher
who recently accepted an interna-
tional award for teaching excel-
lence said it was a “great honor”
to receive such high recognition
for his teaching efforts.

Bruce Bjorkquist, teaching
master at the Stratford nursing
campus, said in an interview that
he travelled to Austin, Texas, May
20 to attend the three-day Interna-
tional Copference on Teaching
Excellence. Hosted by the Univer-
sity of Texas, the conference is
held annually and is the largest for
community colleges in North
America.

Bjorkquist received the award,
granted by the National Institute
for Staff and Organizational
Development (NISOD), along
with about 700 other nominees.
Recipients of the NISOD award
are chosen from teachers
nominated by 2,000 American and
150 Canadian post-secondary
schools.

In an April 17 Spoke article,
David Gross, vice-president of
marketing, described the award as
one of the most prestigious ever to
be bestowed on the college or one
of its teachers. Bjorkquist, who
also received the college’s first
Aubrey Hagar distinguished
teaching award in 1988, was
nominat^ for the NISOD award
by college president John Tibbits.

During his stay in Austin,
Bjorkquist attended one planning
session for the awards ceremony.
From May 22 to 24, the days of the
conference, he heard “top-flight”
keynote speakers, and attended
some 12 to 15 workshop-type ses-
sions.

Choosing from the 175 sessions
available, Bjorkquist attended a
special award-winners session, a
session called Five Best Teaching
Innovations of the Decade, and the
“most important session,” where
participants reviewed the findihgs

Bruce Bjorkquist

of international studies on teaching
techniques.

Bjorkquist found it “quite
exciting” to be a part of the
reviewing sessions, since the
results will be used in a book to be
put out by the University of Texas.
It will be available to teachers
across North America and will
provide them with self assess-
ments, like questionnaires.

“It should be something that
could be very helpful to teachers,’ ’
said Bjorkquist.

Although he was honored for his
teaching excellence, Bjorkquist
gives at least some credit to his
colleagues.

“I feel very grateful for my col-
leagues here,” he said. “They are
very supportive of each other and
work as a team. Any success I’ve
(had) is due to the supportive
group I work with.”

He also credits his students, from
past and present. He has had
“many students over many years
who’ve been constructively criti-
cal,” which is important to a
teacher’s development, he said.

Bjorkquist said being honored
with such a prestigious award as
the NISOD “probably happens
once in a lifetime. “It spurs you on
to work even harder,” he added.

Spoke, Conestoga College, Monday, June 26, 1989

OPINION

iiHi

SPOKE

Editors: Zora Jokic, Eric SchmiedI
Production Editor: Scott McNichol
Circuiation Manager: Julie Lawrence
Staff: Michael-Allan Marion
Contributor: Alan Elliott

Spoke is published and produced by the journalism-print students of Conestoga Col-
lege. The views and opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect
the views of the college.

Spoke shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors in advertising beyond the
amount paid for the space.

Address: Spoke, Conestoga College, 299 Doon Valley Drive, Kitchener, Ontario. N2G
4M4. Telephone (519) 748-5366. Spoke is financed from September to April by DSA.

V J

The image game

By Michael-Allan Marion

Now that the report by Conestoga College’s consulting
firm, Lindley, Arbour and Geddie, has been completed it
is clear the college has taken up the image game in earnest.

The report’s 22 recommendations flow from the
company’s opinion that the college needs to improve its
image to make itself more attractive to the students and the
public.

In a time of tight budgets and staff layoffs, why has the
college embarked on this adventure? Investment in image
must be in the long tenn because the anticipated rewards
— a new public perception and more students — will only
be reaped about a decade from now. It takes a lot of glossy
Cornmuniquds, press releases and more highly paid
marketing staff to accomplish a change in image.

The larger question is why should investment in image
be necessary for a community college? Universities require
it because they have a diverse funding platform — busi-
ness, alumni, research foundations and government — for
which image and profile is a vital mainstay. They also need
the image to maintain them through long years of research
in areas that are often not very marketable.

Community colleges have only two main sources of
funding — government grants and tuition — and their
focus is, by definition, very oriented to market needs. As
such, they should have only a functional orientation. There
is no need for the colleges to ape universities.

But, now that the college has rolled the dice and the
money is on the table, the only real concern should be that
the players not become obsessed with the game. It must
always be borne in mind that the image should be a reflec-
tion of real substance and not a substance in itself.

V )

r^N'TTl4tS mom:

Poes

YOU TELL US:

If you could make one change at the
college what would it be?

0Each division would work together
instead of having a them-us at-

Donna Ferguson
Technology Support Staff

Allocate more funds to technology
for educational resourses and sup-
port staff.

Brian Lee
Third-year

Electronic Technology

I would put a pub on campus. I

F~ip—

think it would really help to bring

1

students from other programs

1 ^

together in a friendly kind of way.

Marie Sutherland

1

Second-year

Journalism

% >

TMBI 1

I would change the suarting time ol
my classes. My classes start at 1
a.m.. I would like them to start
about9 a.m..

Dave Kurp
First-year

Machine Tool-setter and
Operator.

I wish we would get a longer sum-
mer vacation. We only get five
weeks off.

Annmarie Knutson

Second-year

Nursing

Have a more visible and produc-
tive administration.

Byron Shantz
Graduate

Management Studies
Assistant Shipper Receiver

Replacement greenery welcome addition to K-W

Everybody has their preferences in how
they live, or where they would like to live.
There are those bom and raised in the country
who detest the hustle and bustle of the city,
and those bom and raised in the city who
couldn’t stand the quiet and isolation of

country living. And there are those who fit in
between there somewhere.

More and more these days, though, people
are migrating from the ‘inconvenience’ of the
country to be closer to their families or jobs
in the city. With that comes the ever-increas-
ing expansion of the city in to what used to
be farmers’ fields and forests.

City dwellers who are aware of the vegeta-
tion in the Kitchener- Waterloo area are
seeing less and less of it. In its place are ugly,
drab, shapeless buildings, surrounded by
cold concrete and steel.

I live in the west end of Kitchener, in the
Highland and Westmount Roads area, one of
the fastest-growing areas (commercially and
residentially) in the city. Two years ago I

could look out my apartment balcony to see
a great expanse of the country, and the sight
always gave me serenity. It reminded me of
my childhood home in the country.

Well, I realb.e and accept the fact that a part
of life is adjusting to change, and I certainly
have seen alot of that in Kitchener lately. It’s
just extremely difficult to accept these chan-
ges when they literally happen overnight. It’s
like a bad dream — strolling through a park
or a forest and turning around to see a whole
line of strip malls where just a second ago
were trees and greenery.

I’m sure a lot of city people feel the same
way, but obviously there is not much they
could do besides write letters to city hall and
sign petitions to save some of those defense-

less forests and parks. A lot of good that has
done in the past.

It’s a sad situation, but all is not doom and
gloom. Driving down some back streets in
the new suburbs, it’s plain to see that the city
will probably never be without trees.
Homeowners seem to find they add to the^fe
effect of the landscape and are planting new
trees to replace those that were tom down to
build the house in the first place.

As long as people continue to replace the
trees that are tom down, it shows they still
remember, however vaguely, that many trees
and vegetation provide the oxygen that we
humans breathe.

5

Spoke, Conestoga College, Monday, June 26, 1989

OSAP changes make student loans easier

By Julie Lawrence

Changes to the Ontario Student
J^ssistance Program (OSAP) could
help students applying for a loan,
said Betty Martin, registrar at Con-
estoga College.

According to the OSAP informa-
tion booklet received with the ap-
plication form, there are six types
of assistance a student can apply
for: the Ontario study grant,
Canada student loans, Ontario stu-
dent loans, part-time Canada stu-
dent loans, the Ontario special bur-
sary plan and the Ontario work-

study plan.

The loan plans in particular have
been altered this year to allow stu-
dents who are homeowners to be
considered for loans, Martin said.
In previous yeare, added Martin,
homeowners could not be con-
sidered eligible for a loan because
their assets exceeded the allotted
amount.

According to the information
booklet, the amount of the loan is
based on the student’s calculated
financial need. The student
shouldn’t feel obligated at any
time to borrow the full amount.

The loan, which is negotiated at
an authorized bank or approved
credit union, can be arranged to
allow only a portion of the loan
amount to be lent out at one time.
The remaining portion could be
negotiated at any given time be-
tween the bank manager and the
student.

There has also been a change in
the amount a student can earn per
semester, said Martin. Students
can earn up to $ 1 ,000 a semester or
term without affecting their loan or
grant status, Martin added. The
change will aid students in earning

a little extra cash to help them
through the school year, said Mar-
tin.

Allowable educational expenses
have also been changed slighdy,
she said. This is only to allow for
the increase in inflation and will
not alter the allowed amount for a
grant or a loan, said Martin.

According to the booklet, tuition
and compulsory fees charged by
the institution are allowable
education expenses, along with
books, equipment and supplies.
Also included are the student’s
personal and living expenses, but

only a certain percentage can be
considered when students live with
their parents.

Also according to the booklet, a
standard allowance is given to
cover the student’s travel expen-
ses, provided the student lives
more than two kilometres from the
institution. An addition allowance
might be made if there is no public
transit available.

For this time of year, said Martin,
there have been more applications
sent in than usual. She said this
might be because the application
forms were handed out earlier.

Bus route to change

By Michael-Allan Marion

Conestoga College students
living in Kitchener or Waterloo
will have better city bus service
in September, according to Jo
Ann Sawyer, transportation
analyst for Kichener Transit.

A proposal to be presented to
Kitchener city council July 17
would divide the current num-
ber 10 bus route into three
separate routes and increase the
frequency of service. It would
also reduce the current two op-
tional routes to the college to
one.

The existing route, stretching
in two parts from Fairview Park
Mall to Conestoga College,
would be separated into two
runs — one going directly to
and from Conestoga College
and the other servicing the
Doon Valley residential section

without going to the college, as
it now does.

A new third route would pro-
vide service at peak times only
in the industrial section north of
Homer Watson Boulevard.

Sawyer said the college route,
which would run in both direc-
tions every 30 minutes on the
quarter hour from 6 a.m. until
12 midnight Monday to Satur-
day, was designed to take the
needs-of students into account.

“We thought these new hours
would better suit the students’
timetables and their class start
times,’ ’ she said. ‘ ‘We came up
with this schedule after consult-
ing the college administra-
tion.’’

Sawyer said she could not
confirm the cost of the proposal
because the department was
still preparing its estimate.

Cafeteria undergoing changes

By Scott McNichol

Some changes will be made
before September to Doon
campus’ downstairs cafeteria, ac-
cording to Jackie van Trigt,
cafeterial manager.

Van Trigt said the biggest change
will be the relocation of the wall
which the condiment tables are
currently placed against.

The wall is to be taken down and
a new one built out from the doors
at the bottom of the stairs.

The changes will also include a
third cash register, a deli bar and a
gourmet coffee counter similar to
the one in the Dooners cafeteria,
located in the technology wing.

The food counters will be set
about the room like islands, so that
people can move about more free-

ly, said van Trigt, adding that the
setup will be similar to the
Dooners arrangement.

‘ ‘These changes will make more
room and less congestion for our
customers,’’ she said. At present,
the aisles where the two cashier
registers are located are narrow,
and people are cramped when
either choosing food or trying to
pay for it, she added.

According to Yorck Lindner,
college design technologist, the
proposal for the changes was made
by Beaver Foods, which operates
the cafeteria, three years ago. The
proposal was made again about a
month ago and this time approved
by college administration.

Lindner said several construction
companies are submitting cost es-

timates for the work and it should
be decided upon who will get the
job during the second week of
June.

“If everything fits within the
budget, the construction should
start the following week,” said
Lindner, adding there are still -a
few problems to solve, such as un-
derground wiring that may add to
the cost and time of the project.

The expansion, he said, will not
change the size of the eating area
since the area being added has
never been used for tables.

‘ ‘It should make the operation of
the cafeteria more efficient be-
cause there will no longer be the
long aisles of food,’ ’ said Lindner.

The construction should be
finished by September.

Talent, training needed, says child care operator

The following is the first in a
series of feature articles on the
career experiences of Cones-
toga College students and
graduates.

By Michael-Allan Marion

Early childhood education
(ECE) workers must possess a
combination of personal talents
and good training if they want to
be successful, according to Carol
Lightfoot, owner-administrator of
Little Bear Day Care Centre on
Allen Street, Kitchener.

And she has the experience to
support her claim.

For the past nine years, Lightfoot
has had an unusual career in the
child care industry. Being simul-
taneously an owner- administrator
of a private day care centre and a
student in Conestoga College’s
ECE program has given her an
enormous insight into the
prospects and pitfalls of her
profession.

With her husband’s financial
help, Lightfoot bought into Little
Bear Day Care in 1980. Her
children had all grown and she had
decided her job at Bell Canada,
while financially rewarding, was
not for her.

“My husband asked me what I
most pictured myself doing, and I
told him lying under a tree reading
to children. So we bought a one-
sixth share in the place,” Lightfoot
said in an interview.

She did not have a certificate but
her position as owner allowed her
to teach as long as she hired an
administrator who did.

Lightfoot said she believed at the
outset formal training was not
necessary as long as she possessed
a love of children and the creativity
to make lessons interesting. She
changed her mind once she had a

chance to watch others who had
taken the time to get the qualifica-
tions.

“You can always recognize the
ones who have graduated from an
ECE program,” she said. “They
always speak to children in a posi-
tive manner. It’s instilled in the
program.”

Lightfoot said that quality com-
bined with the skills to control a
group of children set apart those
with ECE training.

She said the failure of one teacher
at her day care cenu-e probably
most influenced her change of
opinion. A few years ago she hired
someone without ECE training
who possessed the creativity she
always looks for, but it became
apparent she had no ability to con-
U-ol the children in her circle.

“She drew children to her like a
magnet because she had lots of
energy,” Lightfoot said, “but her
big problem was lack of control. It
was difficult to get her children
calmed down for the rest period in
the afternoon. I eventually told her
she needed some training.”

Lightfoot avoided becoming su-
pervisor of her centre for six years,
prefering to be “a kind of resource
person ... a sort of invisible super-
visor.”

But the departure of many of her
staff in 1986 forced her to take
over the position, and in the
process, to enrol in Conestoga
College’s evening part time ECE
program, which she still has one
more year to complete.

“When I took ECE I discovered
psychology wasn’t a scary word,”

she said, “but by the time I had
taken a course I usually felt that I
could teach it because of my past
experience.”

In spite of her acquired apprecia-
tion of formal training, though,
Lightfoot said she still believes
ECE teachers must possess
creativity and a natural feeling for
children that no amount of training
can give.

She said women sometimes slip
through Conestoga College’s ECE
program who don’t have those
characteristics, in spite of a strict
screening process that makes those
being interviewed nervous.

“I think they are the type of
women who have drifted into ECE
after trying other careers first,”
she said. “I think they view it as a
last resort, something they can do

because they believe women can
always look after children.”

Lightfoot said ECE teachers still
suffer from society’s perception of
them as glorified babysitters,
which keeps governments from
providing more funding and forces
day care centres into almost im-
possible budgets.

“Expenses can be just horren-
dous. Equipment is always break-
ing down and there are always
repairs to be made to the building.
It’s hard to maintain the balance
between numbers of children and
numbers of teachers and on-going
expenses.”

She said the situation is par-
ticularly acute for private day care
centres not eligible for most
government funding.

“The only easy way out of the
squeeze is to raise fees, but even-
tually you run the risk of becoming
an expensive day care centre only

the rich can afford.”

She said the Ontario government
made paying ECE teachers easier
when it extended direct operating
grants to all day care centres. The
grants go straight to the teachers
according to a formula set by the
government, usually adding about
$2 an hour to their pay.

“At least the government is
recognizing that teachers are poor-
ly paid,” she said. “Now they can
get more than minimum wage for
their work.”

Lightfoot said she expects the
lack of funding to continue as long
as society maintains its perception
of early childhood education.

Until the day it changes, though,
she advises aspirants to the profes-
sion to make sure they have the
personal talents to complement
their training if they want to have
a rewarding career.

J

6 Spoke, Conestoga College, Monday, June 26, 1989

‘Disabled’ venture ■
through corridors H

Photo by Eric Schmiedl/Spoke

Hampered by artificial disabilities, faculty from area colleges make way around theDoon campus.

By Eric SchmiedI

If you happened to be at Cones-
toga College’s Doon campus June
6, you may have run into one of
two groups of “disabled” people
making their way about the cam-
pus.

Bill Casey, manager of special
needs/central student services,
said the groups of five we;re made
up of faculty from area colleges,
who were learning how disabled
students cope.

Visual, hearing and learning im-
pairments were simulated so they
could be experienced by members
of the groups, Casey said. Some
members wore cardboard casings
around their hands to experience
how amputees deal with everyday
situations, while others travelled
about the campus in wheelchairs,
he added.

“It’s a real awareness builder for
faculty,” Casey said.

Getting faculty to experience the
problems faced by disabled per-
sons was the third phase of innova-
tions in teaching, part of the
Western Region orientation to col-

lege teaching programs, Casey
said.

“You always run some risks with
It,” he said, adding that people
know they’re not really disabled.

During the group exercise, mem-
bers had to perform a number of
tasks under the supervision of
workshop leaders Casey and
Namiko Bailly of Fanshawe Col-
lege. Tasks included going to the
cafeteria for a cup of water and
using the learning resource centre,
Casey said. He added that “small
things we take for granted become
major barriers ” for the disabled.

Casey and Bailly watched the
groups to ensure that members
didn’t give each other too much
help, Casey said.

Phase three of innovations in
teaching was designed to make
faculty more aware of the
problems of disabled students and
how to deal with those problems,
Casey said. By participating in it,
faculty were exposed to ways to
overcome the barriers presented by
disabilities, he added.

“It’s not an academic problem
— they’re bright,” Casey said.

referring to disabled students. It’s
the method of delivering the infor-
mation that has to be dealt with.
For example, Casey said, it may be
necessary for teachers to read
through overheads in great detail if
visually handicapped students are
present.

To help deal with disabled stu-
dents, the college sent out special

needs advisement forms to new
students for the first time April 15.
The forms will let the college
know ahead of time what special
arrangements must be made for
disabled students, Casey said.

“The sooner we know, the more
effective we can be in helping dis-
abled students,” he added.

Casey commended those people

at the college who aid disabled per-
sons. He said the peer helpers
working with this year’s early
orientations have been helpful. He
also praised Steve Hicks, who
works in the shipping-receiving
department at the college, for his
help.

“They’re worth their weight in
gold,” Casey said of the helpers.

Filming in Poiand chaotic, producer telis students

By Alan Elliott

Marie Natanson’s production of
a film documenting the June 4
Polish election wgs continually
hampered by the same disastrous
economic situation that en-
gendered the beginnings of Polish
democracy.

Natanson offered a behind-the-
scenes glimpse of the effort to a
group of journalism students at the
Doon campus June 13 before
showing the finished product.

The making of Poll Watching,
which aired on CBC-TV’s The
Journal last month, was snagged
by gas shortages, antiquated
telephones in Warsaw that con-
tinually misdialed and required a
scurrying for bureaucratic ac-
creditation to film certain events.

Coverage of the first open elec-
tion in Poland since 1947 featured
key players from the Communist
party and its rival. Solidarity.

“As a producer you’re really
responsible for the logistics of

these things — getting people
there on time,” Natanson said.

Film locations included a May 3
(Constitution Day) rally in War-
saw to following key Solidarity
candidate Janusz Onyszkiewicz on
his campaign in a small town near
the Soviet border.

Natanson came to Canada from
England with an educational back-
ground in English literature and
began working for CBC radio.
Later she help^ get The Journal
started and is now a senior
producer for the show.

Coverage of the recent turn of
events in Poland presented a cru-
cial problem for a producer of
television news. Footage of water
cannons leveled on protesters,
typical several years ago, is much
more dramatic than “covering
peace breaking out,” Natanson
said.

Documenting the early stages of
democratic reform required an in-
tuitive approach and snap
decisions.

Headsets help class learn

By Julie Lawrence

The amount of noise being
generated from the equipment
in the woodworking centre is no
longer a problem for the stu-
dents trying to learn during their
practical lessons, said Grant
Glennie, chairperson of wood-
working skills.

The college purchased
$14,960 worth of noise protec-
tive headsets at the beginning of
the last school year from
Electrolab Ltd. in Belleville,
Ont. The headsets will help
reduce the problem the students
were facing of not being able to
hear the teachers’ instructions
over the noise.

Two intructor headsets —
equipped with throat
microphones — were pur-
chased, said Glennie. The sets
allowed the instructor to talk to
the students, giving them in-
structions as they went along in
their work.

Forty student headsets were
purchased, but these sets could
only receive what the instructor

was sending through his
microphone. Two hand-held
transmitters were purchased to
allow the students to send their
questions or comments to the
instructor and to the other stu-
dents, said Glennie.

“The two instructor headsets
are on a different frequency,”
said Glennie. That way two dif-
ferent classes can be conducted
at the same time without inter-
fering with each other, he
added.

“I don’t know of any other
program that has them,” said
Glennie.

“We also had the option of
putting up walls to reduce the
amount of noise,’ ’ said Glennie.
“The faculty thought this
would be hazardous to the stu-
dents because the instructors
wouldn’t be able to sec what’s
going on behind them.”

The students seem to like the
headsets, said Glennie. Before
the college purchased them
only the few students closest to
the teacher heard what he was
saying.

Natanson and the crew of six en-
countered good and bad luck.
After carefully arranging a meet-
ing with Solidarity leader Lech
Walesa, they managed only a five-
minute interview before he was
whisked away by news of an acci-
dent at the Gdansk shipyard.

Linden MacIntyre, the journalist
who conducted interviews and
narrated the film, immersed him-
self in readings and research.

Filming grew more and more
chaotic. “Finally, I turned to him
(MacIntyre) and said ‘You be the
brain and I’ll be the brawn.’”
Natanson then concentrated totally
on arrangements.

Members of the film crew used
their wiles too. ‘In a packed
cathedral at a mass for Solidarity,
Natanson lost them and was near
panic. She was trying to get per-
mission to ' film the crowd from
above the altar when she saw
they’d gotten there on their own.

“Somehow, with no press passes
they got up there — they’d talked

to a priest," she told the students.

Solidarity began as a trade-union
movement in 1980. In 1981 the
Polish government declared mar-
tial law to counteract dissidents
and outlawed Solidarity, hoping it
would go away. Driven under-
ground, but backed by the Roman
Catholic church. Solidarity per-
sisted, gained vigor and was
granted legal status last year.

“Solidarity had been under-
ground for so long they had to
streamline their operation,’’
Natanson said.

In fact she felt they ran a more
efficient campaign than the Com-
munist party.

The more radical opponents pf
the government feel their cham-
pion, Solidarity, has made conces-
sions to the ruling establishment in
their participation in the election.
The party still holds sway in the
parliament’s more powerful lower
chamber, but after the landslide
Solidarity victory in the Senate,

the Communists talked of a pos-
sible coalition government.

Ironically, Solidarity was too
successful. As part of the govern-
ment in a country in economic
shambles. Solidarity will have to
assist in laying down austerity
measures.

But, although shaky, the step
toward democracy is a sure one.

“We did have a government
spokesman say this change is irre-
versible,” Natanson said. “You
can’t go back.”

For now, as the documentary
points out, Poland’s post-election
stateisoneof relief but not outright
celebration. The parting from
totalitarian ways without Soviet
intervention is a landmark on the
road to the independence Natan-
son said they fiercely desire.

Poles are hearing promises but,
so far, see no real change. The
people haven’t forgotten their
anger with their rulers. They
haven’t forgotten martial law.

Juggling calls takes time,
says switchboard operator

By Scott McNichol

“I can only answer one call at a
time,” said Susan Borkwood, col-
lege switchboard operator, con-
cerning the frustration expressed
by people who sometimes have to
wait before getting an answer.

Borkwood said she has to handle
extension tranfers and incoming
and outgoing calls, some of which
are long distance and take time to
make.

“It’s no wonder people get
frustrated, but they have to wait
until I’m finished with the call
before them,” she said.

The SLl-LE (large -enhanced)
switchboard can keep about 20 in-
coming calls ringing until they can
be answered.

Borkwood said that if there are
eight calls coming in at the same
time each caller has to wait until
she can help them. Certain times
during the year and day are busier

than others, she added.

For example, her busiest hours
are from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and
1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., and in the fall
there are a lot of calls by students
seeking teachers or administration
officials.

Elaine Mullan, manager of col-
lege finance and in charge of the
phone system at the college, said
she hears complaints about the sys-
tem and the only way of solving
them is to issue direct lines to dif-
ferent departments.

“When enough people are as-
king, we give them a direct line,”
said Mullan.

According to Borkwood, there
are about 25 direct lines at the col-
lege, some of which have addi tions
on the phone that will allow a call
to be transferred through the
switchboard to another extension.

Mullan said she hears from
frustrated callers and notes their
concerns. As well. Bell Telephone,

whicii owns the phones, monitor
the number of calls a year and
sends statistics to the college for
analysis.

Bob Hays, co-ordinator of the
law and security administration
program, said that the switchboard
situation has improved consider-
ably over the past two years.

“At one time it seemed like a
half-hour before you got an
answer,” he said.

Borkwood said she has been
working the switchboard for
past two years and has to know 30d^P
extensions for the campus. The ex-
tensions start at 200 and go up to
500, she added.

She wishes, at times, that people
would understand her situation.

“I know when someone has been
waiting,’ ’ she said, adding that she
can tell by the tone of their voice
ora “not-so-nice” comment.

Spoke, Conestoga College, Monday, June 26, 1989

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The

Wingwang

Advisory

aka: Sam Slander
revisited

Dear WA,

My roommate is a disgusting
slob. He throws his underwear and
socks all around the house — and
thinks of them as decorations.
When visitors come over, he
thinks nothing of letting go with
disgusting belches and horribly
rude insults (eg. nice face —
where’d you get it —
mucous’r’us?) What can I do?

Aarrghh

Dear Aarrghh,

Shoot him.

Dear WA,

Every once in a while this big,
ugly rat runs around my apartment.
He’s got little beady eyes and slob-
bers on the carpet as he runs by me,
making the most bizarre noises.
He’s driving me up the wall. Do
you have any suggestions?

Rodent Despiser

Dear Rodent,

Shoot him, too.

Dear WA,

I’m an attractive lady in my mid-
20s, who holds a job as an office
worker. My problem is my boss,
who always hits on me. Every day
it’s the same — the winks, the
sighs. . . the knowing smiles. The
whole situation has got me terribly
flustered. It wouldn’t be all that
^ad if my boss was a man — but
B'Zelda” is a 200-pound female
bruiser. What can I do?

Secretary in Trouble

Dear Secretary,

I think this problem is a little
out of my jurisdiction — Ann
Landers handles letters like
yours.

Dear WA,

My wife and I are having a dis-
pute over how to raise our two
boys. She wants them to go into
music and art — I want them to
play football and be rowdy, fun-
loving beer drinkers. How can we
resolve this problem?

Uncertain Father

Dear Uncertain,

Easy. Meet your wife halfway.
Let the boys go into either
music or art — but insist they
grow up to be rowdy, fun-
loving beer drinkers.

Dear WA,

Every night my new next-door
neighbor keeps me up until the wee
hours of the morning with his loud
parties. I haven’t seen the loud-
mouthed jerk yet, but I’ve phoned
him up several times to let him
know what a self-centred jerk he is
— to no avail. What can I do?
Sleepy

Dear Sleepy,

You can stop bugging me with
those friggin’ phone calls is
what you can do.

Dear WA,

Lately I’ve been a total wreck.
I’ve been drinking for days on end,
and it doesn’t look hke I’m about
to stop. I have no motivation to do
anything else. It took all the energy
I could muster just to write this
letter to you. What should I do?
Lazy Drunk

Dear Lazy,

Just get into the mood. Being
a drunken, lazy slob can be
fun if you approach the situa-
tion with the right attitude (I
should know.)

DSA ACTIVITIES OFFICE
to find out more about
this exciting offer

8

Spoke, Conestoga College, Monday, June 26, 1989

Students win awards at June 10 convocation

Photo by Alan Elliott

The college’s founding president, James Church, presents the
James W. Church Achievement Award to Marianne Allan.

Photo by Alan Elliott

Mechanical engineering-numerical control students Michael Kipp
(left) and Robert Caldwell receive the Mastercraft Award.

By Alan Elliott

A graduate of the journalism pro-
gram has won the first Governor
General’s Academic Award ever
presented by the college.

Tracy Strassburger of Waterloo
was awarded the bronze medallion
at the spring convocation
ceremony June 10. The winner
must achieve the highest academic
standing college-wide in the final
year of a full-time diploma p*-o-
gram of at least two years in length.

About 1,200 students from the
college’s various campuses were
eleigible to receive diplomas or
certificates at the ceremony, held
at the Doon campus’s Kenneth E.
Hunter Recreation Centre.

Other prestigious awards
presented at the ceremony were the
James W. Church Achievement
Award, to Marianne Allan of the
early childhood education pro-
gram and the Mastercraft Award,
shared by Michael Kipp and
Robert Cadwell of the mechanical
engineering- numerical control
program.

The Church award, consisting of
an inscribed program shield and a
cheque for $ 1 ,000, was established
in honor of the college’s founding
president. It goes to a student who
demonstrates exemplary qualities
— achievement in learning, con-
cern for the dignity of the in-

Photo by Alan Elliott

Tracy Strassburger receives the Governor General’s Academic
Award from college president John Tibbits.

dividual and contributing to the
benefit of society.

Besides her acadenuc work,
Allan was involved as a volunteer
with a Guelph public school, the
district mental retardation associa-
tion, the local infant development
program, St. Joseph’s Hospital and
a drop-in centre for the economi-
cally disadvantaged.

Kipp and Cadwell, both from
Princeton, won the Mastercrarft
Award for their design and
manufacture of a solid brass and
aluminum chess set, all done on
computer-aided, numerical con-
trol machinery.

Susan Johnstone, who teaches in
the college’s nursing program, was
awarded the Aubrey Hagar Distin-
guished Teaching Award,
presented to a faculty member for
outstanding contribution to the
teaching-learning process. The
award was established to honor
Aubrey Hagar, a founding member
of the college’s Board of Gover-
nors who retired from Conestoga
College in 1986.

Johnstone received a College
Shield and will participate in a
professional development activity
in the area of education.

Publisher tells graduates to prod
government into action on problems

By Alan Elliott

K.A. (Sandy) Baird, guest
speaker at the college’ s 2 1 st spring
convocation, downplayed gradua-
tion speeches as “eminently
forgettable’’ and then spoke about
some of the most crucial issues the
world faces today.

“Most such speeches urge
graduates to strive, to excel, to go
for it, to be innovative, to pay
proper heed to the basic virtues and
good stuff like that,’’ Baird, pub-
lisher of the Kitchener- Waterloo
Record, said. “Well, let’s take
those admonitions as read.’’

After several “up-and-at-’em
points’’ (“nothing stands between
you and the tip of the ladder except
the ladder’’) Baird discussed the
world the younger generation is
inheriting. He said that when guest
spe^ers tell graduates the future is
theirs, “there have been times
when graduates didn’t know
whether to take that as a threat or a
promise.”

Baird, who was born in
Kitchener in 1925, began working
for the Record as a carrier, then a
switchboard operator and, in the
summer, an office boy. After serv-
ing in the Royal Canadian Navy
during the Second World War, he
graduated from the University of
Western 'Ontario in 1949. He rose
through the newsroom at the
Record and was named publisher
in 1975.

Commenting on recent world
events, Baird said the Soviet
Union’s move toward more open
relations with the West has made
the world outlook brighter than
since the Second World War.

The massacre of peaceful
demonstrators by the Chinese
army in Tiananmen Square a week
earlier may spell a tempxjrary end
to that country’s move toward
democratization, he said, “But the
human spirit is indomitable, as has
been demonstrated again and
again over the ages.

“The cause of the students has
had a setback, but it will triumph
as surely as the human spirit can-
not be vanquished.”

Commenting on the environ-
ment, Baird conceded the world is
in sad shape. But he said pleading
guilty to handing on a polluted
earth to the next generation is
pointless. Baird reminded the
audience that the work of environ-
mental activists a generation ago
helped spur the technology today

that monitors industry’s effects on
the environment.

Widespread awareness of en-
vironmental problems is bringing
about the will to correct them,
Baird said.

“Minimally, each of us should
do what we can to ensure that our
government — indeed all govern-
ments — should take action,
regardless of the economic cost
and regardless of the political
cost.”

Photo by Alan Elliott

Record publisher K. A. Baird delivers convocation speech.